Erwin Baur (16 April 1875, in Ichenheim,

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

– 2 December 1933) was a German

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processe ...

and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

. Baur worked primarily on plant

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

. He was director of the

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Breeding Research The Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research was founded in Müncheberg, Germany in 1928 as part of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft. The founding director, Erwin Baur, initiated breeding programmes with fruits and berries, and basic resea ...

(since 1938 Erwin Baur-Institute). Baur is considered to be the father of plant

virology Virology is the Scientific method, scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host (biology), ...

. He discovered the inheritance of

plastid The plastid (Greek: πλαστός; plastós: formed, molded – plural plastids) is a membrane-bound organelle found in the Cell (biology), cells of plants, algae, and some other eukaryotic organisms. They are considered to be intracellular endosy ...

s. In 1908 Baur demonstrated a lethal gene in the ''Antirrhinum'' plant. In 1909 working on the

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in ...

genes in ''Pelargonium'' (geraniums) he showed that they violated four of Mendel's five laws. Baur stated that #plastids are carriers of hereditary factors which are able to mutate. #in variegated plants, random sorting out of plastids is taking place. #the genetic results indicate a biparental inheritance of plastids by egg cells and sperm cells in pelargonium. Since the 1930s and the work of

Otto Renner Otto Renner (25 April 1883 in Neu-Ulm – 8 July 1960) was a German plant geneticist. Following the work of Erwin Baur, Renner established the theory of maternal plastid inheritance as a widely accepted genetic theory. He studied botany under K ...

, plastid inheritance became a widely accepted genetic theory. In 1921 and 1932, together with

Fritz Lenz Fritz Gottlieb Karl Lenz (9 March 1887 in Pflugrade, Pomerania – 6 July 1976 in Göttingen, Lower Saxony) was a German geneticist, member of the Nazi Party,Eugen Fischer Eugen Fischer (5 July 1874 – 9 July 1967) was a German professor of medicine, anthropology, and eugenics, and a member of the Nazi Party. He served as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, ...

, Baur coauthored two volumes that became the book ''Menschliche Erblichkeitslehre'' (Human Heredity), which was a major influence on the racial theories of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. The work served a chief inspiration for biological support in Hitler's ''

Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...

''."Human biodiversity: genes, race, and history"
Jonathan M. Marks. Transaction Publishers, 1995. p. 88. , .

References

External links

Short Biography, bibliography, and links on digitized sources
in the

Virtual Laboratory The online project Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930, located at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, is dedicated to research in the history of the experimentalization of life. Th ...

of the

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (German: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte) is a scientific research institute founded in March 1994. It is dedicated to addressing fundamental questions of the history of knowledg ...

1875 births 1933 deaths People from Ortenaukreis People from the Grand Duchy of Baden 20th-century German botanists German geneticists Max Planck Institute directors {{Germany-botanist-stub